The EMEA unit has been split into Northern Europe and emerging markets divisions, with former UK managing director Juan Jose Gonzalez leading the former. Each regional head reports to Wu, along with the head of global franchise organizations, Pericles Stamatiades. Marketing teams are being shaped to match the structure.

Reporting to Stamatiades are the four franchise leads within the consumer category. Stamatiades will oversee Bill Murphy, president of over-the-counter (OTC); Rick Rizzo, president of oral healthcare; Walter Grundy, president of women's healthcare; and Stefano Curti, president of skin care.

It is understood that reorganization is designed to simplify the previous operating structure, which saw J&J's global healthcare category and global markets separated into two camps: global business units (GBUs) and general marketing organizations (GMOs). The two divisions were not based on regional areas and, sources claim, hindered the company's efforts to develop the global presence of its brands.

The changes follow a series of product recalls by the company in the US, which led to a federal government probe into J&J's handling of the situation last May. One of the products under mass recall was Tylenol, the popular children's medicine. The recalls came from J&J's McNeil Consumer Healthcare arm, within the OTC franchise.

The company has said that the US OTC business will be a separate organization, in order to devote greater focus to its McNeil brands. The restructure of the consumer unit is also intended to create clear lines of responsibility to prepare for any potential future product issues.

This article originally appeared in Marketing, a sister publication of Direct Marketing News under Haymarket Media.

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